


Faulty (ML Angst Week Day 2)

by Caprichoso



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gaslighting, Gen, ML Angst Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 18:15:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10702440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caprichoso/pseuds/Caprichoso
Summary: Pain and comfort, promises kept and broken in precisely random patterns, rage and confessions of care, truths and half-truths and lies blended together just so- these are tools that, when combined, are singularly suited to an insidious purpose.As with a human being, a kwami can be broken, if one has the patience and skill to do so.





	Faulty (ML Angst Week Day 2)

**Author's Note:**

> *Rises from the mostly-dead just long enough to post this and become mostly-dead all over again.*
> 
> WARNINGS: this contains a blend of some of the most insidious varieties of abuse and manipulation.
> 
> You can also read this and/or scream at me on my Tumblr: encontrasuya.

Nooroo was ripped from the brooch with a flash of light and a scream of purest agony.  
  
He'd used it. Master had promised he would never use it again unless Nooroo forced him to, but he'd done it anyway despite Nooroo's compliance. The Dark Incantation had been invoked once more, malevolent magic binding Nooroo to perform duties he'd already agreed to do of his own free will.  
  
It was putrid, toxic; somewhere inside Nooroo's essence, another piece had been taken and corrupted. The closest comparison he could draw from his contact with human beings was to nausea, but of the soul rather than the body. He wished, not for the first time, that kwami could simply purge themselves of any taint forced upon them just as humans' bodies dealt with poisonous food.  
  
"Why, Master? Why did you..." He trailed off, fighting the sense of wrongness that permeated his entire being.  
  
"Nooroo?" Master's forehead crinkled. "What's wrong? Was the transformation harder on you this time?"  
  
Nooroo flew forward to hover accusingly before his Chos- _no not Chosen never Chosen_ \- his captor. "You know what the Dark Incantation does to my Miraculous. You _know_  what will happen to me if you go too far. Why did you-"  
  
"The Dark Incantation? What do you mean?" Master shook his head, face still the picture of confusion. "I haven't used that for quite some time now."  
  
_Lies it's a lie he always lies always hurts-_  
  
"You used it today!" Nooroo shouted, wishing he could amplify his voice to seem more imposing, less helpless than they both knew he was. "Just now! You broke your promise and ruined another part of me and you had _no reason_  to do it!"  
  
Master sighed, steepling his fingers in front of him. "Nooroo, please, listen to me. Or listen to yourself, if you won't listen to me. You just admitted I have no reason to hurt you like that." Long fingers spread wide in a placating gesture, a tentative, gentle smile on his lips. "You've been transforming willingly for me, which makes the Incantation completely unnecessary. Why would I break my promise? What good would it do me to hurt my own kwami, my companion?"  
  
_He did, he did it anyway He DID IT-_  
  
_But why?_  
  
"I... I don't know," the kwami admitted, gaze dropping to stare at the brooch rather than at Master's eyes. "But I know you did. You did it." Nooroo's insistence sounded petulant even to his own ears. Still, he knew the truth, and he had to cling to it. He would not let the truth be eroded along with his essence.  
  
"Oh, Nooroo. It's happening again, isn't it?" Master's voice was laden with sympathy, utterly incongruous with the situation.  
  
Nooroo's eyes snapped up to meet Master's, searching for the lies, the malice. Even the slightest hint would be a desperately-needed confirmation. "What's happening again?"  
  
"Your memories are getting mixed up again." The man chewed his lip, running his fingers through his short, no-nonsense haircut. "It's the corruption from earlier, when you were still forcing me to use the Incantation, before we made our promises to each other. It must be distorting-  
  
"No, I _remember_!" Nooroo howled, looking for all the world like a child throwing a tantrum before a patient father. "It was this time, not before! I remember being ready to transform, waiting for you to call me, but then you were saying those words instead, and I looked at you, and..." _That's it that's it that's how you know! He can't argue with evidence!_  "And your hair was short! It was short, just like it is now, not long like it was before. I _remember_  it."  
  
Rather than sneering in contempt as Nooroo expected, though, Master simply shook his head, closing his eyes. "Nooroo, please. This has happened before, remember? Two months ago, I had your usual vase of nasturtiums waiting for you, and you insisted that I had promised you red clovers, even though that had been three weeks prior. Don't you remember that?"  
  
Nooroo's mouth opened and closed without sound, rage short-circuited as he searched his recollections. "I... I remember being disappointed with you, yes. You know red clovers are my favorite, and-"  
  
"And I did give them to you when I said I would, and then again as soon as I could after your memory problems started." That placating smile Nooroo despised was back on Master's face. "The very next time you transformed, there were some waiting for you afterwards, weren't there?"  
  
Kwami had no need to breathe; there was no physiological basis for the feeling of tightness constricting Nooroo's throat and chest, but that fact made it no less paralyzing. "...Yes," he finally managed. "They were wonderful."  
  
"And do you recall what I said to you that day?"  
  
Nooroo blinked, blinked again. He _did_  remember, as much as that rapidly-shrinking voice inside him insisted that every word of it had been false. "You said... you were sorry for hurting me in the past, that you wished you hadn't ever had to use the Dark Incantation, and you hoped the memory problems would pass if you made an extra effort to remind me how much you care."  
  
"That's right." Master's voice was sweet as nectar, tinged with approval. " _That_  memory is real. I remember it too, and I still mean every word of it."  
  
"Thank you." Warmth should have permeated Nooroo's entire being at that declaration, yet it didn't seem to reach all the way. It felt... off. Incomplete. "But... the Dark Incantation... if you didn't use it this time, why do I feel like this? Like a little piece of me just rotted away?"  
  
_Because he's lying, because he... lies... nothing... always... forget..._  
  
One of Master's hands came up to caress Nooroo, careful and gentle and caring. "Past trauma can resurface at any time, Nooroo, and the memory feels just as real as anything else."  
  
That much was true beyond any doubt; over the millennia, Nooroo had comforted countless Chosen in the throes of night terrors and waking horrors that had haunted them for years after wounds had faded to scars.  
  
"That's just one more reason why I would never hurt you unless you gave me no choice. You and I are the same, Nooroo: we want to help others, to protect them." Master's hand scooped Nooroo gently out of the air, cradling him in close. "I will always care for you and protect you. You believe me, don't you?"  
  
Nooroo froze, some near-forgotten impulse preventing him from answering. "I... I..."  
  
"Please, Nooroo." Master's voice took on a desperate tremble. "Without you, I'm all alone. I have no one to trust but you. And if you can't trust me too... I'm lost." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, tears threatened to spill over. " _Please_ , tell me you trust me, Nooroo."  
  
"I... I trust you." No sooner had the words escaped than Nooroo felt something dissipate, drifting away into the ether. It had seemed so important to him, once, but it couldn't possibly be as crucial as he'd believed if he couldn't even remember it anymore... could it?  
  
Master's sigh of relief was audible. "Thank you. Thank you, Nooroo," he whispered. "I've always kept my word, but I'll keep reminding you for as long as you need to be reminded: I care about you deeply, and I will always protect you and do what is best for you. And I promise, once again, that for as long as you continue to help me to the best of your ability, I will never hurt you." He held his hands out far enough to fix the kwami with an expectant gaze, awaiting the completion of their vow to one another.  
  
"And I promise that I will always do my utmost to aid you, so that you never have a reason to harm me again." The litany was familiar, comforting. It was one more reassurance to Nooroo that Master cared for him.  
  
Master gave Nooroo's head a little pat. "Come, Nooroo; you have nasturtium nectar waiting for you. If it would make you feel better, I can try to find some red clovers soon, as well. It will be difficult at this time of the year, but I'm willing to do it for you."  
  
"No, Master, please, that isn't necessary." The kwami dropped his gaze, ashamed of his earlier tantrum. "You shouldn't feel guilty for things you didn't do. Besides, I'm..." Forcing a smile onto his face, he allowed himself to look back upwards. "I'm already feeling a little better."  
  
This time, his Chosen's smile was no longer marred by tension. "You see? It was just a false memory; soon, you'll let it go and be back to normal. You can depend on me, Nooroo; I will remember the truth for you."


End file.
